VT Chillin'

This past weekend, a group of Bobcats longing for snow headed back to Vermont to try and get in some hours on real skis. Though the trip's logistics were last-minute and a little messy, everything worked out great: myself, Hallie, Nick, Andrea and Margaret headed to Burlington and stayed at the Grossman's new abode (the first time Hallie had seen it since her family moved in) and commuted the 1+ hours to Craftsbury. We got fed home-cooked meals and were able to visit some friends on the UVM team. It was the perfect escape from end-of-the-semester mayhem on campus.

Lucas, Sean and Jordan stayed at Burke - Jay and Lucas got to catch up with some folks who they know from their time there, and Sean learned a lot about why the two of them are the way that they are.

We met up Saturday morning at Craftsbury to do some on-snow threshold intervals with speeds thrown in. Besides the 1.25 km loop (expanded since Thanksgiving), it could have been February: cold, snowy and perfect skiing. There were plenty of others taking advantage: Middlebury was out skiing, UVM was doing a time trial, SMS and CSU and some very big groups of Quebecois skiers were all getting after it.

(Photo brazenly stolen from the SMS blog)

The dudes must have been a real sight: hammering 15-someodd laps around the loop in a big pack, weaving around a bazillion little quebecois kids, all wearing matching clothes. Intimidation is everything I guess. We got a lot of cheers.

We skied again on Saturday afternoon, and on drizzly Sunday morning we came back for a classic OD. Some of us took the opportunity to explore the trails beyond the manmade loop. The entire 5k race loop was rolled out, along with a good bit of other terrain, but it was mostly rock skiing.

UVM and Midd were out on OD skis as well, so we got to catch up with some friends who we had missed while we were hammering the day before.

All in all a great escape from school and a perfect end to our big-volume training period! Now it's time to get sharp for race season...

Stay tuned for updates from this weekend's trip to the Quebec World Cups, where a bunch of us will be going up to watch alum Sylvan Ellefson '09 (along with other friends!) race with the best in the world. Maybe Becky will even let us take up the Midd team on their offer to have a dance competition on Saturday night...

Thanks for reading,

-Filly

Cheesin'